And so it Starts - LC Hybrid

[rostrumorhospital]

Firstly - Can I congratulate all concerned on a great forum, I've been a member for a while now, mostly just viewing / admiring some impressive bikes and workmanship but I've also had some knowledgeable replies / advice from members.

I live in Co. Antrim, Norn Ireland, and come from a mainly off-road back round, my first bike was a 50cc Yamaha in 1981 (shown on the ikon) but I have had a few road bikes as well, the first being a 1992 RG 125 when I was 18 then an FZR 600 and a YZF 750, I was a bit too young to own an LC in the 80's but they were definitely the bike of choice when I was a teenager and have always wanted one. Now that I've finally got an LC to call my own I have finally got round to introducing myself and starting the rebuild thread.

I bought this 1981 250 LC from a mate back in November, he intended to restore it but just never found the time and lucky enough I got first refusal, if the frame and engine numbers matched I would have restored it back to original but as they don't my intention is to build a hybrid and in the last month have bought a GSXR 400 GK76A as a donor bike.

The LC was last on the road in 1999 and to the best of my knowledge has not been started since. I was in two minds weather to try to fire it up or just to crack on with getting it stripped down but curiosity got the better of me and I removed the plugs and both were sparking so I poured a taste of pre-mix down each barrel and it tried to start first kick and did start on 2nd or 3rd couldn't believe it ring ting.

Here is a couple of photos before stripping.

[shaunthe2nd]

Welcome aboard, I too was enticed into starting a re-build (or 2 in fact!) solely based on comments and builds I saw on this forum, butr be careful, its addictive! Some great guys to help you along though.
Your bike looks a good starting point. Not sure about the red frame and white rad colour myself, but i can't talk one of my projects has a terrible blue custom scheme i'm trying to eliminate!
Yr front seems to have the 350 brake disc, but looks to retain the single 250 horn.
There seems to be some distortion on the picture, but my guess is that the clocks are mounted too high. They fit to underside of the mounting not topside, but an easy fix if that is the case.
I look forward to seeing how you get on, good luck.
When i get some time i intend posting on my rebuild too.
Cheers, Shaun

[dusty350]

Hi
Looks like you have a good bike as a starting point for your rebuild. Look forward to watching your progress.

Dusty

[rostrumorhospital]

A few more photos of the bike as it sits at present, the frame is fairly solid but does need a few welds here and there, I have also removed one of the air box brackets as it was damaged beyond repair and made up a new one, hopefully get the welding sorted this weekend

[dusty350]

Blimey, that was quick
Good work

Dusty

[markg64]

getting there mate

[rostrumorhospital]

Got the frame sorted, welded, shot blasted and powder coated, along with the center stand, side stand and sub frame, managed to get the front end in at the weekend after much debate over where to position the lock stops on the bottom yoke, ended up putting the tank on and fitting the top & bottom yoke then setting a 5mm spacer between the top yoke and where it was about to hit the tank left & right and marking the position for the lock stops that way, drilled 2 10mm holes in the bottom yoke and welded in 2 of 1/2" dia bar with a 10mm step to fit the holes. I sprayed both yokes with a spray can, looks ok, probably looks better in the photos than actually is, might get it powder coated with the next batch of stuff. I also got 2 off 1" spacers turned down to fit below the bar risers but not sure about the handle bars either, will probably swap them for a more straight set.

Now to get to work on trying to shoe horn in the gsxr 400 swingarm and get a top brace fabricated for it.

[bare]

What a Shame.. Here I thought you were gonna restore it into an LC.. more or less :-).

[dusty350]

Looking good matey, some nice engineering there. It's gonna make a nice Hybrid.

Dusty

[mcguyver]

Nice. Will be watching with interest.

[rostrumorhospital]

Have been working on the swing arm, got the front pivot tube machined to fit the frame aprox 9mm off each side and thanks to headcoats and nikfubar for the info on the bearings have got them sorted along with the center tube turned down to length. I have removed the original suspension mount from the arm leaving a hole, i was hoping for enough material not to leave a hole but will have to weld in a bit of alloy plate.
So the arm is in the frame, I'm now looking a bit of 30mm box section alloy with rounded edges to fabricate the top brace for the shock mount but am finding it hard to source this with the rounded edges, if anyone has a contact for this please let me know.

[rostrumorhospital]

I finally sourced some 1 1/4" alloy box section to fabricate the top brace for the swing arm, the next issue was getting it rolled to shape without kinking it, a local engineering shop done this for me and a mate of a mate came up trumps with a cracking alloy machining to mount the shock to the top brace. I made up a fairly agricultural jig to hold the parts in position and my dad sorted out the welding, i was really pleased with the final result.
Have just bolted it into the frame and connected up the Nitron shock I got from Norbo a few weeks back, I went for the Nitron after reading the forum feedback and due to the fact it has the ride height adjustment giving me some flexibility with my positioning of the shock mount.
Definitely a bit of a milestone getting the bike back on 2 wheels again!

[mikee]

Nice work

Mike

[yamark]

Clever lad, great work

[dusty350]

Wow,
That swingarm looks fantastic! Well done on some great work.

Dusty

[LC_BOTT]

That is a lovely job you've done there, very envious, I can't even 'stick' two bits of clean metal together and make it look nice, are you stick welding the alloy? Love the jig for the swingarm
Keep us updated

[nikfubar]

1st class job wish I could ali weld

[JonW]

ohh thats nice! +1 for what Nik said...

[pepsisteve]

Looking good mate, looks a lot like mine, rgv vj21 front and rear ends which is very similar to the gixer 400 rear arm, looks much better than the banana arm I think

[phil1966]

Well done mate both back and front end really taking shape...good hands..

[350wayne]

Tidy project mate

[rigga]

Skills ....

[northernmonkey]

Top job

[johna]

amazing work there mate top job.

[rostrumorhospital]

LC_BOTT - The arm was tig welded, I'm probably like the majority of members on the forum, i will have a go at most jobs and would love to have done the welding myself but when you see the final welds, its definately a job for someone that knows what he's doin.
This build is definately a team effort with my dad helping me greatly along with other friends / family and not forgeting the advice / encouragement received from the forum members.
Cheers

[rostrumorhospital]

Its been well over a year since I last updated the progress of my bike build and there's no doubt progress has been slow at times but over the last couple of months the build has started to gather a bit of momentum again.

I decided I needed something to get me motivated and working on the bike again so I rang the painter (Paintbox in N.Ireland) and dropped the bodywork up to him, that and a couple of deliveries from Norbo's shop has done the trick.

Although the bodywork is normally the last thing to finish off most bikes, apart from the motivation, I wanted this sorted out for a few reasons:

- When I spoke to the painter last year regarding the colour to powder coat the wheels, he told me this time of year was his least busy
- I wanted to make sure the tank was useable, I bought the bike with 2 tanks, the one that was on the bike wasn't great but the spare was bought by the previous owner to replace the original and was primed only, it looked solid but I was concerned if/what the primer was hiding.
- The original tail unit was repaired with fibreglass at all 4 bolt holes and wanted the painters opinion on whether or not to use it, the answer was not, I then bought a pattern fibreglass unit of ebay that didn't fit particularly well and went back, then after a tip off from JAKETHEPEG007 I bought a genuine Yamaha unit of ebay from Singapore but again after some great help from 4L04EVER got a pattern plastic one, great quality at a fraction of the price of the genuine Yamaha unit and this is the one that's at the painters.

So hopefully these issues are sorted out before the end of the build and you just want to bolt the bodywork on and go.

I'm keeping the standard White with red stripe colours

I've been working from the front of the bike back, hoping to more or less have the bike finished, less the engine by the end of the winter, then gather up a few more beer tokens to get the engine sorted next winter.
Over the last year i've got the wheels powder coated, new bearings and tyres, refurbished the brake calipers, fitted SP internals to the GSXR 400 forks, refurbished the switch gear, refurbished the front brake master cylinder

here's a few photos of what I've been working on more recently

Made up a stainless steel bracket to mount the clocks along with an alloy block to attach the ignition switch to and allow use of the steering lock.





to try and keep the cost of the build down to a fortune rather than 3 fortunes I cut of the damaged/unusable lock from the seat latch and tried to get it welded but found out it is made from cheap white metal and cannot be welded so drilled a few holes and fitted screws to give the putty some purchase, shaped it up the same as the l/h seat latch, happy enough with how it turned out, hopefully it stays there.


Made up a couple of headlight brackets to fit the bought clamps and done my best impression of a painter and painted it along with front mudguard bracket, seat latches, clock bracket, ignition plate and rear light housing

here's how the bike looks at present

[img src="hti887.photobucket.com/albums/ac76/davidhill_4/20151214_205938_zpskpzw6czo.jpg"]tp://i887.photobucket.com/albums/ac76/davidhill_4/20151214_205925_zps9tucmdqd.jpg[/IMG][/URL]

[spacejunkie]

That swingarm is well smart..

[rostrumorhospital]

Got the bodywork back from the painters today, couldn't wait to get it on the bike, another small milestone reached on the way to getting the bike back on the road.
I always liked the look of the belly panel on the LC but I'm not that keen on the small red strip decal that goes on it so just went for the "Yamaha" decal and with the front mudguard, went for the tuning fork logo on the front, the standard long red stripe looks well on a standard LC mudguard but i just dont think it suits the bigger mudguards for upside down forks, apart from that the rest is standard.

[rigga]

That looks great, but then as its so much like mine I'm kinda biased

Btw where did you get the tuning fork clock face decals from and how hard to change?

[Tobyjugs]

WOW